Awesome: Baby Animals

I saw the new baby sea lion at the Pittsburgh zoo yesterday, and she's pretty awesome. Then today I held a baby kitty at Petco and thought about how babies (as far as I know, kitties, puppies and human babies) have a really wonderful, heavenly, calming smell that goes away as they get older. Little baby kitties have this wonderful smell on their skin and on their little round bellies. On their soft pads and tiny noses. Puppies keep it in their breath and kisses. And human babies smell soft and small. They feel vulnerable and fragile in your hands. But anyway, it's obviously a smell I enjoy. It makes me happy.
I took some pictures of the baby (and of some other animals on my short trip to the zoo) and felt a "renewal" of the kinship that I feel often with animals. This time it was a feeling that the mother-child bond transcends species, and people seem to forget these things. People forget that animals feel scared and hopeful and happy for their children. They feel proud when they are able to walk or crawl or fly. They feel better about themselves when their children do well. They want to protect them from harm, especially shady looking zoo-goers. Humans just have a superiority complex that is totally uncalled for. Dicks. I had captions on this slideshow but they didn't show up. So imagine the story like this:

Baby looking for mom who is swimming in the water.
Baby calls for mom.
Mom shows up and baby is hungry.
Mom tells baby about being big and grown up.
Mom tries to shade baby.
Baby wants more adequate shade.
Baby moves under overhang and tells mom how awesome it is.
Giraffes do some geometry.
Gorilla contemplates life and her place in it.
Gorilla looks pretty awesome.